I have a set of Assioma pedals and they are usually right on and for the cost, one of the best things I’ve ever bought. They really work quite well. I ended up with Rally’s (SPD-SL) but Favero has a way to do Shimano cleats now. Just a suggestion, since Stages seems ‘lights out’ possibly forever.
Just some general Saris H3 updates: after a bit less than 4 years the Saris H3 broke down. The plastic fan broke and cracked on several places. Saris offers a replacement fan on their site but they have no representatives in Europe and ships only to USA or Canada. Eventual shipment has to go through a 3rd partie (‘freight forwarder’) of which the costs are difficult to assess. This article of DC Rainmaker gives some more context : Saris Begins Process To Sell The Company: The Backstory On How It Ended Here | DC Rainmaker
Yeah. IDK their current status but they are selling their trainers very cheaply, $350 US for an H3. IDK if they make any money at that price. I have an original Hammer I got 9 years ago and fortunately it’s still working well. It’s always been kinda loud. The newer H2 and H3 versions are much much quieter. I haven’t thought about what I’d get if/when it craps out.
9 years sounds good !(or lucky…?) My H3 didn’t make it to its 4th birthday (August 2021). But I used it quite intensively, roughly 3 hours per week and almost year round. Unfortunately the spare parts have not gotten ant cheaper (fan => $60,- plus at least $40 shipping costs to Europe). And I’ve not taken into account any tarifs… ![]()
Yeah. Being lucky is good! I use mine 4-5hr/wk but only for about 5 months out of the year over the winter. Back when I got it, list price was $1200, on par with a Kickr, but I got a “pro deal” and paid $600. $350 now is really a great deal, but I’d be concerned about support going forward.
Hi, Saris H3 user here! I can share the positive evaluation and smooth ride feel. Although a weak point is the plastic Drive / Ventilator Pulley. It cracked and broke completely after 4 years of regular use (and I am not the only one; see H3 stories on the net). Fortunately the pulley is still available at Saris (that stopped operating outside the USA). However shipping outside the USA and Canada should be done with an intermediate shipping service which increases costs. However I am glad I did. I was about to buy a second hand Neo (abundantly available in post COVID era…) for approximately 500 - 600 Euro. Replacing the pulley costed me some 150,- Euro (shipping included). Still don’t understand why Saris made this pulley of plastic..
Trying my luck here:
I‘ve been searching for the XD/XDR driver body for my H3. I know that I can technically train with a Shimano casette but I‘d like to shift. Saris‘ homepage shows the driver body as in stock and ready to ship but they won’t ship to Switzerland. I haven‘t found an online store that has it eithe rin stock or will ship overseas.
Is there a member in the Community who would ship the driver body over to Switzerland for me, on my expense of course?!
please DM me trough the forum if willing to help, thanks!
I’ve bought spares for my H3 from here before and it looks like they have the XD/XDR body in stock:
UK based so you may have more luck getting shipping to Switzerland (although who knows with Brexit) - they’re a small business so if it won’t work by default through the website I’d reach out and they may be willing to help
I found that webshop but couldn’t check out - they only ship in the UK. I’ll write them an email, thanks for the suggestion.
Just get some off brand 12 speed cassette with the correct driver that fits your current hub. Amazon has a million of them
thanks for the suggestion. I hadn’t considered that but it would eventually turn out to be the more economical solution, thanks (Y)
I had it save to a list in Amazon but it seems Saris is out of stock. There are other buying options, but IDK anything about them.
Hi, see my post just above yours. You can buy Saris stuff on their website and ship it to an intermediate agency. I have used ‘Shipito’. You’ll get an address in the USA to where your Saris order will be shipped. They will ship it to your home address abroad. It increases the transport costs, but it’s the only way to get SARIS stuff outside the US and Canada. I succeeded with the driver pulley, that stupidly is made of plastic…
Thanks, another great suggestion. I found a 12speed Sram 12-31 XPLR casette from someone locally, which has a HG driver for 80$. This is both faster and more cost effective than having the driver ship via third party from overseas. But if anything else should fail on my H3 I will definetly look into it. Knock on wood I won’t have to for the foreseeable future
Besides the plastic pulley that I had to replace, I had to deal with another notorious weak point of the Saris H3: the failing power plug connection on the trainer. Lacking service and specialist here in Bamako I found this solution that’s working.
Nice. You could tidy that up a bit buy loosening the two screws on the left, removing the wires and cutting the bare wires shorter so that when they’re inserted and the screws tightened on them, the insulation extends into the connector so that no bare wire is external to the connector. That might also pertain to the right side but I can’t see it very well in the picture.
Thanks for your pertinent comments and advice! I have planned to protect the wires with electrical tape or the way you suggested to avoid bare wires. But in my enthusiasm and relief after some frustrating experiences on the ‘spare Tacx Bushido’ (very poor accuracy) I was eager to show the solution that brought back life to the Saris. It was a bit of a puzzle to figure out the correct connection between the wires from the power cable and the ones from the trainer. The adapter cable is a weird cable with a central isolated wire (white, that should connect to red-plus) and some mesh wire around the inner white one (to be connected to the black-negative).
Yep, you have it figured out. That wire you describe is usually called “shielded cable” and is often used by manufacturers to help ensure compliance with regulations on electromagnetic emissions and immunity. That’s not a concern at this point.
